{"id":2185,"date":"2017-10-30T16:20:33","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T16:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=2185"},"modified":"2017-10-30T16:20:33","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T16:20:33","slug":"tstc-culinary-arts-student-awarded-james-beard-foundation-scholarship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=2185","title":{"rendered":"TSTC Culinary Arts Student Awarded James Beard Foundation Scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>(ABILENE) – Matthew Kepner, a first-semester Culinary Arts student at Texas State Technical College in Abilene, was selected to receive a $10,000 scholarship from the James Beard Foundation.<\/p>\n

<\/span>The James Beard Foundation\u2019s scholarship program, which was established in 1991, assists aspiring and established culinary professionals further their education at accredited culinary schools or hospitality institutions, colleges and universities. In 2016 the foundation awarded over $7 million in financial aid to more than 1,850 recipients.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Beard was a culinary pioneer and hosted the first TV food program in 1946. Also a chef, cookbook author and teacher, Beard was dubbed the \u201cDean of American cookery\u201d by the New York Times.
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Kepner applied for the scholarship after finding the information online, and he was excited to find out he was selected.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cI was at work when my mom got the mail,\u201d he said. \u201cShe called me crying. It was really exciting.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>So far, the scholarship has helped Kepner in school.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s really helped me with books, paying for classes and registering for everything,\u201d Kepner said. \u201cIt helped get me supplies like notebooks, pencils and things I need like that.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Culinary Arts instructor and chef Kayleen Moon said she sees a bright future for Kepner.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cThe prepared ones are the ones that do well,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was one of those. He started emailing me long before any of the actual paperwork to get into the school.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>She said Kepner\u2019s cooking experience outside of school will help him succeed.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cHe\u2019s worked hard for what he has,\u201d Moon said. \u201cHe has experience, actual chef experience in a kitchen. He knows actual culinary terms, not just \u2018home kitchen words.\u2019 When I say things like \u2018depouillage,\u2019 he knows what it means. He\u2019s already coming in gifted and experienced.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Kepner will graduate in 2019 and hopes to find a job working on an offshore oil rig or in Alaska.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cSince those jobs are two weeks on, two weeks off, on my two weeks off I\u2019d like to travel abroad to learn about other cultures\u2019 cooking and hopefully study under some other chefs,\u201d he said.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Authentic Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine are Kepner\u2019s favorite foods to cook.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cI love the culture and history around Mexican food and Tex-Mex,\u201d he said. \u201cI learned a lot from my neighbors who are from Mexico. They\u2019ve taught me about cooking meat underground and stuff like that and cooking for hours and hours at a time. I just love the smells; they\u2019re the best thing in the world to me.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>For more information on Texas State Technical College and the Culinary Arts program, visit tstc.edu.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(ABILENE) – Matthew Kepner, a first-semester Culinary Arts student at Texas State Technical College in Abilene, was selected to receive a $10,000 scholarship from the James Beard Foundation. The James Beard Foundation\u2019s scholarship program, which was established in 1991, assists aspiring and established culinary professionals further their education at accredited culinary schools or hospitality institutions, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abilene","category-westtexas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2187,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185\/revisions\/2187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}